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For a church that has claimed throughout its history to be teaching “the truth,” the International Churches of Christ (ICC, ICOC) movement shows an alarming history of doctrinal change. As we consider these changes, the moving target of ICC doctrine makes us wonder: if the International Churches of Christ is really teaching the truth, then why does “the truth” keep changing?
In the early years of the Boston Church of Christ, Kip McKean and Boston leaders taught that their churches were autonomous – in other words, self-governing:
"Now, we understand this: churches are autonomous. And so different elderships have set up different times for the churches to meet."
Kip McKean (ICC founder), First Principles: The Church, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 10072, (recorded circa mid-80s)
"Now, is each congregation in a sense autonomous? Yes, I believe in that, even though the word autonomy never is mentioned. I mean, there are to be elders in each congregation where there are qualified men and they are to oversee that flock."
Al Baird (World Sector Leader), Authority and Submission, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 4204, 1987.
"You know, I think far too long we have talked about in the Church of Christ the autonomy of each congregation – and I believe there is an individuality that God has given to it to be. But, you will not find the word ‘autonomy’ in the Bible."
Kip McKean, Be Perfectly United, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 4056, early 1987.
By 1994, McKean and ICC leadership had changed positions to saying that their churches were not autonomous, and that the entire principle of autonomy was unbiblical:
"Autonomy is unbiblical – it’s not a word found in the Bible… The Bible clearly teaches in one church in one city, amen? It doesn’t teach an autonomy."
Kip McKean, Indianapolis, audiotape, March 17,1994.
"Are churches autonomous? Not in the New Testament they’re not."
Doug Arthur (World Sector Leader), Indianapolis, audiotape, March 1994.
"…our churches are not autonomous because we believe that this kind of independence violates the command and spirit of the Scriptures and hinders Christians from learning from each other."
Frequently Asked Questions About The International Churches of Christ, Media & Law press kit, Los Angeles, August 1, 1994.
The ICCs changed position on church autonomy has resulted in a pyramidal movement, with one church over another over another, and the Los Angeles International Church of Christ on top.
Today's ICC members might be shocked to learn that their leaders once taught a different plan of salvation. In fact, the Boston Movement’s conversion doctrine in the early-to-mid-1980s was basically mainline Church of Christ doctrine:
" Oh, we can never compromise the issue of salvation, what it takes to be saved: You’ve got to have faith, repent, confess and be baptized, that’s just how it is…."
"And so, if any one of these needs meets your needs, let me challenge you to respond this morning, so we can be praying for you. If you’re not a Christian, come forward, get right with God, accept his grace and be baptized. If you’re in the balcony come forward as we stand and sing, on the bottom come forward as we stand and sing, the great song, Amazing Grace."
Kip McKean, Our Needs, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape #2078, January 20, 1985.
"…the plan of salvation …of hearing, believing, repenting, confessing and being baptized – that’s the only way to be saved."
Kip McKean, Book of Acts Overview: Chapters 1-8, Discipleship Publications International, Tape # 10073, recorded 1985.
"And I basically, I believe we’re in agreement [with mainline Churches of Christ] on who is a Christian. I mean, we’ve been teaching it for years. We talk about hearing the Gospel. Believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God… And then truly repenting, turning away from our sins. And being baptized, into Jesus Christ, into the church, for the forgiveness of our sins, to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Anyone who does those things is a Christian."
Al Baird, Discipling, Church Growth and Unity, Freed-Hardeman forum, 9:00 session, October 10, 1987.
As division with the mainline Churches of Christ grew, Kip McKean around 1987 added a new requirement to the mainline “5-step plan” of salvation. McKean now taught that becoming a disciple was a prerequisite to baptism:
"Jesus says, 'Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing THEM'…Then, the Bible says that after they’re baptized – and you only baptize disciples – then you’re to teach them to obey everything the Lord’s commanded."
Kip McKean, Be Perfectly United, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 4056, early 1987.
"…the only true Christians according to the Word of God are those who have faith, those who repent, they make the decision to make Jesus Lord, they become disciples, and those who are baptized to have their sins forgiven, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Kip McKean, First Principles: Follow-Up Study #1: After Baptism, Now What?, DPI, Tape # 10076, recorded circa 1989.
"…once you become a disciple, then you can be baptized. But you cannot be baptized, until you become a disciple. And that’s where, as I far as I know, the rest of the entire religious world’s got it all messed up. I don’t know of any religious group in this world, that teaches you’ve got to be a disciple to be baptized."
Nick Young (Geographic Sector Leader), Tulsa reconstruction sermon, audiotape, 1992.
Sometimes, this new doctrine was worded differently, saying that a person must “make the decision to be a disciple” before baptism:
"This means that before any person is a biblical candidate for baptism, he must have made the decision to be a disciple…"
Gordon Ferguson (Kingdom Teacher), Discipling: God’s Plan to Train and Transform His People, Woburn, MA: Discipleship Publications International, 1997, p. 52 (emphasis Ferguson).
Meanwhile, other ICC leaders continue to reiterate the “become a disciple first” doctrine:
"You must believe in Jesus (John 3:16), repent of your sins (Luke 13:3), become a disciple of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20) and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:38)."
Mike Taliaferro (Geographic Sector Leader), The Killer Within: An African Look at Disease, Sin and Keeping Yourself Saved, Woburn, MA: Discipleship Publications International, 1997, p. 56.
The movement’s shifting conversion doctrine altered its view of whether people were saved outside the movement – in particular, people in the mainline Churches of Christ.
Ironically, the same doctrinal shift now creates questions about the salvation of the ICC’s own founders. Although many Boston leaders were re-baptized in the late 80s, others were not.(1) After changing the path to salvation, many of the ICC’s leaders no longer seem to qualify, themselves.
Elders were considered the highest office in the early-day Boston Church of Christ. For example, in the mid-80s, Bob Gempel and Al Baird were elders in the Boston Church of Christ, with Kip McKean as their evangelist:
"In the Boston church, I believe one of the greatest strengths of our church is that the leadership is really united… You know there’s nothing in our church like, well, the elders are against the evangelists – listen, we’re all a team – now we recognize that the elders are the highest office. But we’re all a team, and we’re unified."
Kip McKean, Book of Acts Overview: Chapters 1-8, Discipleship Publications International, Tape # 10073, 1995 [recording 1985].
As McKean consolidated control of the movement, the role of elders became secondary to his own, and as a probable result, the movement changed its doctrine on elders. By 1992, movement elders reported to evangelists instead of the other way around:
"We have very clear vertical lines of authority [in the LA church]. I'm the lead evangelist. Elena [McKean]'s the lead Women's Counselor – Marty [Fuqua]’s the lead Associate Evangelist. He's the number two guy. Chris [Fuqua] is number two woman. Bruce [Williams] is number three guy, as an elder/evangelist. Corey [Blackwell, evangelist]'s number four. But it's very clear in our church, the roles. We've got the evangelist, the lead evangelist, and then we've got the elders decision-making group. …We need elders – Bob and Pat [Gempel], Al and Gloria [Baird] have meant the world to me. That's why they're in the World Sector Leading Group, to be my elders. I need them."
Kip McKean, The Dream: Super Churches, Part 1, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 7762, 1992.
Elders by 1992 were such an afterthought that, according to Al Baird, only five of the movements many churches had elders at all:
"You know, we have got a grand total in the kingdom of God of 12 elders – 12 big elders… You know, we’ve got three in Boston, we’ve got three in Los Angeles, two in San Diego, two in Chicago, and two in Philly."
Al Baird, Becoming Shepherds of the Flock, Part 1, Boston, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 7767, 1992.
What once had been the highest office in the church was not necessarily even considered a primary decision-maker:
"You say, well where does he [a non-full-time elder] fall in, in terms of being a decision-maker and all of that? Well, I think that’s something that needs to be decided, of course in conjunction with your evangelist. I don’t believe that every elder has to be, what we would call a top decision-maker."
Bruce Williams (Los Angeles Elder), Becoming Shepherds of the Flock, 1992.
The reduced role of elders removed important checks and balances on the authority of ICC evangelists, as ICC elders became largely subject to the dictates of their evangelists.
One of the movement’s most public doctrine changes was its retraction on “obeying advice.” In its early years, leadership taught openly that advice of leaders was to be obeyed:
"You see, here’s the bottom line, and get this down: the person that you are discipling must believe, must trust that you are out for God’s, and their best interest. Because, you see, there will be some advice that they will not understand. But if they trust that you’re out for God’s and their best interest, they will obey."
Kip McKean, Discipleship Partners, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 4007, 1987.
"And I know that that kind of trust has engendered this in my character: It makes me want to obey the advice that I’ve received."
Scott Green (World Sector Leader), Discipleship Partners&, 1987.
The movement's obedience policy had scant exceptions, since members were compelled to obey any advice that didn’t directly violate the Bible or their own consciences:
"We’re willing to say that the evangelist – without elders in the congregation – is the authority of God, in the congregation. The only time he’s not to be obeyed is when he calls you to disobey scripture or disobey your conscience. And even if he calls you to do something that disobeys your conscience you have still an obligation to study it out and prayerfully to change your opinion. So you can be totally unified."
Kip McKean, Why Do You Resist the Spirit?, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 4207, August 28, 1987.
After years of teaching unqualified obedience and submission, top leaders in 1992 publicly announced a reversal in policy in the movement’s newsmagazine:
"Contained in this issue of Upside Down are admissions of error both in practice and in teaching among discipling ministries about leadership and authority."
Marty Wooten (Kingdom Teacher), “Biblical Leadership”, Upside Down, Issue Two, 1992, p. 24.
"A leader’s authority does not cover every area and phase of life, but only those that ‘prepare God’s people for works of service,’ those that build up the body of Christ, those that promote unity, and those that bring the individual and body to maturity in Christ…. Advice is not a command. It is advice. It can be accepted or rejected without sinning so long as the person receiving the advice is convinced that his decision is the one God wants…. a leader has no biblical reason to expect obedience in the area of advice."
Al Baird, “A New Look at Authority,” Upside Down, Issue Two, 1992, p. 19.
"…I was wrong on some of my initial thoughts about biblical authority. I had felt that church leaders could call people to obey and follow them in all areas of opinion. This was incorrect. I feel very badly for people who were hurt by this wrong stance."
Kip McKean, “Revolution Through Restoration,” Upside Down, April 1992, p. 15.
What is perhaps most notable about this policy shift is what it failed to achieve: today, many ICC members are still called to obey their disciplers and evangelists in areas of opinion. The wording of the ICC’s policy has changed, but the underlying emphasis on conformity and obedience remains.
Kip McKean has changed his tune on prophets from saying in the early years of the movement that he did not consider himself a prophet, to later proclaiming himself one.
In 1988 and again in early 1994, McKean denied being a prophet:
"And I don't claim to be any kind of apostle, prophet or anything like that, but I believe with all of my heart, a few years ago the Lord put that plan [to evangelize the world] upon my heart."
Kip McKean, Denver church reconstruction, audiotape, 1988.
"Now, I’m not a prophet, of course here, but I suspect that somewhere in the next twenty years they’re [newlywed couple] going to have a fight."
Kip McKean, Indianapolis message, audiotape, March 17, 1994.
By late 1994, in what was largely a semantic change, McKean had not only decided that he was a “prophet,” but he asked other ICC leaders to consider themselves prophets also.
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"I’ll tell you something. I don’t believe that we have prophets that write scriptures anymore, but I believe that every generation needs prophets. I don’t even want to qualify it. See, we’ve gotten so [mainline] Church of Christ, we wouldn’t want to say, 'Well, there are prophets today.' Might as well break another tradition: I believe there are prophets today. I’ll be extra bold: I believe I’m a prophet today. Now my question for you, is do you believe that you’re a prophet? Do you believe that you’re a God-sent prophet, who’s been sent as his messenger, to preach his word, to his people, to make a difference in this generation?"
Kip McKean, Malachi: God’s Radical Demand for Remaining Radical, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 9104, Manila, August 1994. (about audio clips)
Years later, the same month that Kip McKean resigned as ICC World Missions Evangelist and leader of the World Sector Leaders, a prominent "Kingdom Teacher" refuted that there are prophets today, in an ICC email newsletter:
"A true preacher of the word needs to speak 'prophetically,' boldly engaging the truth of the text and the reality of the situation he is addressing himself to. But this does not mean he is a prophet. Prophet biblically seems quite a bit more than a synonym for preacher. The same would be true for the word apostle...
"I do not believe there have been any true prophets since the apostolic age."
Doug Jacoby (Kingdom Teacher), ACES Online e-mail #626, ACES World Sector, November 15, 2002.
Curious because of the close timing with McKean's departure from senior leadership, Jacoby goes on to note that "Peter, Paul and John warn of the influence false prophets (2 Peter 2, 2 Corinthians 11, 1 John 4)."
The movement taught in its early years that the mainline Churches of Christ were the Lord’s church:
"I think we need to certainly appreciate our heritage, without question, and roots in the Lord’s church – the [mainline] Church of Christ….
"…Howard Norton, who was a [mainline Church of Christ] missionary for the Lord’s church to Sao Paulo many years ago in 1960."
Kip McKean, Be Perfectly United, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 4056, early 1987.
"…I was at a New England men’s retreat 2 weeks ago with people of the Cape Cod [mainline] church, and so there’s certainly no lack of fellowship in the situation. And you know, I certainly recognize them as the Lord’s church."
Al Baird, Discipling, Church Growth, and Unity, Freed-Hardeman 3rd Annual Preachers and Workers Forum, 11:00 Session, October 10, 1987.
The ICC’s view of the Lord’s church has drastically changed since the mid-to-late 80s. Today, leadership teaches that the ICC alone is the Lord's church.
When the ICC’s Indianapolis church split into two parts – ICC and mainline – Kip McKean told ICC members to persuade people to leave the leave the other church and attend “the Lord’s church:”
"You just brag about the Lord – you just brag about the Lord’s church. You’ll get them over here – they’ll come to faith, Amen?"
Kip McKean, Indianapolis message, audiotape, March 17, 1994.
Today, when ICC leaders speak about the Lord's church, they are specifically talking about the ICC:
"Do you feel like you are being generous in your [financial] giving to the Lord’s church?"
Reese Neyland (Geographic Sector Leader), “Where Your Treasure Is: Money and Finance,” in Disciples on Campus, ed. Marty Fuqua and Gregg Marutzky, Woburn, MA: Discipleship Publications International, 2000, p. 100.
In its early years, the movement was in fellowship with mainline Churches of Christ, and considered mainline members to be true, “saved” Christians. In fact, members were allowed to move back and forth, transferring membership between groups without rebaptism.
In this 1985 sermon, Kip McKean referred to mainline Church of Christ members as “brothers and sisters:”
"You know, I’m pleased to know, that within the [mainline] Churches of Christ, in the last month and a half, there’s been over 2 million dollars collected for the famine in Ethiopia, isn’t that great? And that tells me something, that the hearts of the brothers and sisters are good…"
Kip McKean, Our Needs, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape #2078, January 20, 1985.
McKean and his senior leaders clearly taught that there were true Christians in the mainline Churches of Christ:
"Are we saying that we don’t appreciate the other Churches of Christ and the good Christians that are in them? No."
Kip McKean, Be Perfectly United, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 4056, early 1987.
"Now, my background is from the mainline Church of Christ. I grew up in the Church of Christ. And I love my brothers who are still in the mainline Church of Christ…"
Al Baird, The Authority of Leaders, DPI Archive Cassette Series, Tape # 4328, 1987.
At a mainline Church of Christ leaders’ conference in 1987, New York City Church of Christ lead evangelist Steve Johnson downplayed differences between the mainline Church of Christ and his church:
"See I believe, let me just say it: I believe that there’s, a lot of us [Christians]. I don’t believe that the things that I practice and teach are that significantly different from what I grew up believing [in the mainline Churches of Christ]…"
Steve Johnson (World Sector Leader), Discipling, Church Growth, and Unity, Freed-Hardeman 3rd Annual Preachers and Workers Forum, 11:00 Session, October 10, 1987.
"…we don’t believe that we are the only ones saved, we don’t believe you have to do it the way that we’re doing it…"
Steve Johnson, Discipling, Church Growth, and Unity, Freed-Hardeman 3rd Annual Preachers and Workers Forum, 1:30 Session, October 10, 1987.
By the early 1990s, ICC leaders drastically changed their teaching about salvation in non-ICC churches. In this chilling 1992 quote, evangelist Nick Young said there are no other groups with the truth:
"When you walk away from the movement of God, there is nowhere to walk to. You’re walking out of the light, into the darkness. There is nobody else – there is nobody else in this country, that has the true Gospel, that’s trying to make disciples of Jesus. There is nobody else in this entire world. This is the movement of God. You walk away, there’s no place to go."
Nick Young, Tulsa reconstruction sermon, audiotape, 1992.
World Sector Leader Doug Arthur in 1994 skirted the question of whether people could be saved outside the ICC, by saying there might be a few:
"Are we the only saved ones? We’re the only church. Are there saved individuals somewhere? I hope so, but it’s precious few."
Doug Arthur, Indianapolis, audiotape, March 1994.
Kip McKean’s own definition of “who is saved” changed to include only people who had followed his teaching of becoming a disciple before baptism. McKean’s words at the ICC leadership’s 1995 annual conference implied that no one outside the ICC is saved:
"I think we’ve forgotten to preach the radical message of who is saved. When you preach who is really saved, that you’ve got to have faith, you’ve got to repent, you’ve got to become a true disciple of Jesus, and then you’ve got to be water-immersed for the forgiveness of sins to receive the Holy Spirit, that excludes all the denominations and certainly the Buddhists, the Islamics, everybody else that’s out there. That’s going to tick some people off. When you say, 'We’re the only true church, and we’re made up only of disciples,' that’s going to tick the religious people off."
Kip McKean, Preach the Word, World Missions Leadership Conference, audiotape, Johannesburg, August 9, 1995.
Some ICC leaders have been even more blunt about the ICC being the only “saved” church:
"You know, you need to be proud of the Lord’s Church. You need to believe in your heart that everyone needs to see this church. Everyone needs to be a member of this church if they are going to get to heaven. And you know, that needs to be a sense of confidence."
John Causey (Region Leader), .wav audio file, 1996.
"We often refer to ourselves just as 'The Church.' Well, that’s arrogant – 'Are you the only ones that are right, then?' Common question. I believe that anyone who reads the Bible, has faith in Jesus, repents, obeys the Scriptures, lives like a disciple, is baptized into Christ and lives faithfully thereafter will go to heaven – whether they’re a member of this church of not. Now, the fact is, in 13 years I’ve never met an individual, on their own, who’s ever done that."
Fred Scott (Geographic Sector Leader), .wav audio file, April 27, 1997.
Clearly, today the ICC teaches that people aren’t saved unless they are converted using the ICC’s methodology. The ICC has re-drawn the path to salvation, and now marvels that no other group can find it.
(1) Kip McKean names thirty-four movement leaders and members who were never re-baptized in a 1992 article [Kip McKean, “Revolution through Restoration,” Upside Down, April, 1992, p. 10.].
Copyright © 2001, 2002 Dave Anderson. All rights reserved.
